All posts tagged ‘Belle’

With a press pass around my neck and my family in tow, I was given a front row seat to everything that happened during the three-day grand opening of the New Fantasyland at Disney World in Orlando, Florida.

The new Fantasyland is full of over ten new acres of Disney fun. The expansion brings to life a new circus themed attraction area and two new castles and, inside of each, there is something new for fans of all ages to check out. I will be breaking my experience up into four separate posts, including an inside look at what it means (and takes) to wear a press badge at an event of this magnitude.

Let’s get started with a look inside the largest expansion in the history of the Magic Kingdom park!

Each of the four new areas includes something special for guests to experience. The Little Mermaid’s castle is actually a ride, Belle’s cottage is a story-time experience, and Beast’s castle is a unique dining experience I wouldn’t miss for the world. Storybook Circus, the area formerly known as Toontown, has a unique “Big Top” merchandise experience, complete with popcorn pin trading and a queue-less double Dumbo attraction (say that five times fast). Now instead of only one Dumbo attraction, we have two! This means twice as much Dumbo for the fans of the high flying elephant and his friend Timothy Mouse.

A beautiful view of Prince Eric’s castle \ Image: Dakster Sullivan

The Voyage of the Little Mermaid is hidden inside of Prince Eric’s castle.

The queue line is beautifully done and includes a very special hidden Mickey. One catch…the only time you will get to see it, is at high noon on Mickey’s birthday, November 18th. That alone shows the dedication and love the engineers put into this ride, because in order to accomplish this feat, they had to do some serious calculations and designing around the sun and its position in the sky to make it happen.

The ride vehicles are similar to the Haunted Mansion, but with a shell like design. Like all rides based on a movie, this is the abridged edition of the story and I’m happy to see that all my favorite scenes are included. The largest scene in the ride is, of course, the Under the Sea number and houses 128 of the 183 total animatronics in the ride.

My husband was impressed with Ursula, who appeared to be the largest of the characters at over 7 feet fall and 12 feet wide. The biggest reactions I could see came in the Under the Sea scene. The room is so big, you need to take a second ride through just to see it all.

The music and party-like atmosphere in the room had my son and I dancing in our clam shell. I think the coolest part of the ride was how much detail was put into each scene to make you really feel like you had jumped into the movie.

Beauty and the Beast was the first Disney movie I can remember seeing in theaters (did I just age myself?) and I’ve been in love with “a tale as old as time” ever since. With that said, it makes sense that Belle’s cottage would be one of my favorite spots in all of new Fantasyland. There are three very special aspects to this house for me.

Recently, I was given the chance to take a behind the scenes look at Disney’s newest ice show, Disney on Ice: Rockin’ Ever After. The show features Disney Princesses Ariel, Rapunzel, Merida and Belle. The music was everything I could have hoped and included some of Disney’s Chanel’s most popular hits, as well as classic music from the princesses movies.

Merida had quite the attitude about her suitors. Click to view larger./ Image: Dakster Sullivan

I learned quit a bit from talking with the cast and crew of the show. I learned that it takes a year to put the show together and the performers only have six-weeks to learn it. All the rehearsals take place in Lakeland, Florida so that Feld Entertainment can be close to Walt Disney World, for costume creation and approval. Since the director stays behind when the show goes on tour, each show has a production assistant that goes along for the ride and makes sure that the show and cast stay on track.

Princess Week got me to thinking, which Disney Princess is the geekiest? All the princesses have their little quirks. Cinderella is a clean freak who has trouble keeping track of time. Sleeping Beauty wants to marry a guy she met in the woods and seems upset to find out she is a princess. Pocahontas can talk to the trees and magically understand English. Mulan exhibits courage by taking her father’s place in battle, cross dressing, and using her wit and intelligence to defeat the Huns. But which one exudes geekiness? Which one thinks outside of the proverbial princess box? The answer: Beauty and the Beast‘s Belle.

Belle is an independent thinker, was raised in a geeky household, and loves to read. Her dad loves to tinker and make inventions and growing up in a house like that she was bound to be geeky. In a time when it was unheard of for women to think for themselves, Belle does exactly that. She is not afraid to speak her mind, even when her thoughts are unpopular. She is curious and often indulges her curiosity to learn things. For instance, the Beast forbids her to go to the West Wing, but curiosity gets the better of her and she goes anyway. Sure, she ends up with the Beast angry with her, out in the snow, about to be eaten by wolves, but if she hadn’t gone up there she would never have known about the magic rose.

A Belle fan, with X-ray glasses. (Image: Jen D)

Belle cares nothing for convention and the customs of the day. The entire town sings a song about how different she is, for Pete’s sake. She reads when it is unpopular for women to do so. Gaston even comments on how “It’s not right for a woman to read. Soon she starts getting ideas and…thinking.” That line irritates me every time. She rides a horse on her own without a male chaperone. She is independent and takes care of herself. She is smart enough to know that Gaston is a loser. Despite being all muscle-y he is missing it where it counts, in his brain. While the blonde bimbettes moan and groan about how gorgeous he is, Belle rejects his advances and even calls him a monster at one point.

When she finds herself in an enchanted castle with talking tea cups and clocks, she is shocked at first but then takes it in stride. She does her best to adapt to her situation and even attempts to make it better. She seems to enjoy spending time alone and doesn’t seem to seek out the company of others much.

I see some of my geekiness in Belle. My love of reading, strong opinions, flaunting of conventions, and intelligence helped me achieve my geeky happily ever after just like they helped Belle achieve hers.